Over the next decade up to 175 million children per year will be hit as natural disasters increase.

Climate change is the biggest health threat to children in the 21st century and represents an immediate global emergency, Save the Children has said.

175 million children per year will be hit as natural disasters increase over the next decade. Disasters such as floods, cyclones and droughts will hit children hardest as they get worse with climate change, the international children's organisation said.

These disasters will combine with an increase in malnutrition and disease, already the biggest killers of children.

Launching a new report, 'Feeling the Heat - Child Survival in a Changing Climate', the international children's organisation called on world leaders to sign an ambitious climate change agreement in Copenhagen that helps the world's poorest children cope with the effects of global warming.

According to the report, released at the Barcelona United Nations Climate Change talks, climate change will more than treble the number of people caught up in natural disasters in the next 20 years, with natural disasters more frequent and severe due to climate change.

The report also warns that climate change will exacerbate the leading causes of death of children, including diarrhea, malnutrition and malaria.

Diarrhoea, the killer of one million children every year, is set to increase by as much as 10% by 2020 because of climate change. Malnutrition, which today affects 178 million children and causes 3.2 million child deaths each year, will affect 25 million more children by 2050. And malaria, responsible for one million child deaths per year, will affect up to 320 million more people by 2080.

"Children are already dying because of climate change and without urgent action these deaths will increase," said Rudolph von Bernuth, Emergency Director for Save the Children. "Nearly nine million children die every year before their fifth birthdays from simple causes like diarrhea and pneumonia. Climate change will make these threats worse. Climate change is a global emergency for children.

"Unless action is taken, climate change will become a slow-motion train-wreck with the world's children on board."

Save the Children's report highlights how the poorest people in the poorest communities will be most affected, as climate change reduces communities' access to clean water and their ability to grow nutritious food, increases food prices and allows malaria mosquitoes to spread. Children in poor communities, especially under-fives, will be hardest hit.

In East Africa the current food crisis, exacerbated by erratic weather patterns, is rapidly getting worse. Up to 20 million people are threatened with severe hunger, leaving them in desperate need of emergency food aid. In Ethiopia, 6.2 million are in urgent need of food relief and in Kenya, Nearly 4 million people in Kenya alone are on the brink of starvation.

Communities are able to withstand droughts, but this prolonged drought pushes their coping abilities to the absolute limit - they are facing the effects of climate change every day.

"Children in developing countries are not responsible for climate change, yet they are hardest hit by it," said Alberto Soteres, CEO of Save the Children Spain. "It is the responsibility of rich nations, that have been emitting greenhouse gases for centuries, to help poor communities adapt to the effects of climate change."

'Feeling the Heat' calls on governments to strengthen health, water and sanitation systems in the poorest countries so that they are ready to cope with the effects of climate change. Developing countries must also draw up plans for climate change adaptation that include the particular needs of children.

The report identifies social protection, through cash grants for the poorest people, as an important way to strengthen communities struggling with the effects of climate. Early warning systems to sound the alert on coming disasters such as floods, cyclones, epidemics and famines are also vital.

"It is essential that the international community signs a strong and binding agreement in Copenhagen," said Alberto Soteres. "This should include significant funds from rich countries to help developing countries adapt to climate change.

"It is also vital that leaders in Copenhagen agree binding cuts to greenhouse gas emissions of 80% by 2050.

"Today's children will grow up into a world transformed by climate change. International leaders owe it to them to do everything possible to limit the dangers of this global threat." 

The world's poorest children are not responsible for climate change, yet they are the ones who are hardest hit. The decisions taken in Copenhagen in December 2009 will affect them the most, and they must not be forgotten. The time to act is now. 

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Please contact Lourdes Collado on +34 629 482 304; or Ben Dempsey on + 44 (0) 7880 747575 for more information or media interviews.